The disclosure relates to fiber optic cabinets for housing fiber optic equipment, and more particularly to systems for stacking modular fiber optic cabinets, and related devices, components, and methods.
Benefits of utilizing optical fiber include extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation. Because of these advantages, optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of applications, including but not limited to broadband voice, video, and data transmission. Fiber optic networks employing optical fiber are being developed for use in delivering voice, video, and data transmissions to subscribers over both private and public networks. These fiber optic networks often include separated connection points linking optical fibers to provide “live fiber” from one connection point to another. In this regard, fiber optic equipment is located in data distribution centers or central offices to support live fiber interconnections. For example, the fiber optic equipment can support interconnections between servers, storage area networks (SANs), and/or other equipment at data centers. Interconnections may be further supported by fiber optic patch panels or modules.
Fiber optic equipment is customized based on application and connection bandwidth needs. The fiber optic equipment is typically included in housings, such as fiber optic cabinets, that are mounted in equipment racks to optimize use of space, and to facilitate installation and maintenance of the fiber optic equipment. One example of a fiber optic cabinet is a fiber optic distribution outdoor cabinet, which is configured to be installed in an outdoor environment where it is exposed to the elements. Conventional fiber optic distribution outdoor cabinets and other outdoor cabinets may be relatively large and monolithic, however. This in turn makes it difficult to expand or otherwise scale up the capacity of a fiber optic cabinet installation without significantly increasing the footprint of the installation.